Fireteam Echo
by DragonRedScar
Summary: A Hunter and a Warlock, wreathed in flames. A Titan and a Hunter, clothed in lightning. A Newborn Warlock, bathed in the shadows of the Void. They were not supposed to work. They were light years away from each other, too different to be anything else than a headache for the Vanguard. But guess what? They weren't. (Previously The Dragon and the Wolf)
1. chapter 1

_-Extract of a conversation between Hunter Vanguard Cayde-6 and Hunter Kilian Marvin-_

 _[K.M.] Hey, have you heard about that new recruit? The boy from the slums._

 _[C.6.] Yeah, apparently, he's giving Shaxx a hard time._

 _[K.M.] No, it's not that. You see, yesterday, he started the hand-to-hand combat training._

 _[C.6.] And?_

 _[K.M.] He was coupled with an older boy, a titan trainee._

 _[C.6.] And?!_

 _[K.M.] At one point, when they were fighting, Shaxx had to intervene before the boy killed him. He almost beat him to death._

 _[C.6.] Who? The titan?_

 _[K.M.] Nope, the slum boy._

 _[C.6.] What? How is that even possible?!_

 _[K.M.] I don't have a single clue._

 _[C.6.] Why do I have a feeling that this incident is going to bite me in the ass later on? What do we know about him?_

 _[K.M.] From what his file says, he was born in the Northern district, in the slums. Only child, no parents; he was picked up by the City Task Force about a month and a half ago, he already had a ghost with him._

 _[C.6.] Has he got a name?_

 _[K.M.] Yep, Ivan, no last name._

 _-End of extract-_

Lord Shaxx was having what some would call a shitty day. First, he hadn't been able to grab any sleep last night with the Crucible's tournament organisation. Then, he had to check on the recruit's training program, which did NOT guarantee a restful day. However, if his day had limited itself to these minor issues, he would have carried on as usual. But no, the training session HAD to go wrong. And now, he was in his private office, looking down on the source of his problems, a young boy, barely thirteen years old. The boy was looking everywhere but at the hulking figure in front of him. He had messy brown hair, pale skin and vibrant green eyes. His Hunter trainee uniform, originally grey, and his hands, were splattered with blood.

Shaxx let out a sigh and opened a file in front of him. "It says here that your name is Ivan. Is this right?" The boy finally looks up and slowly nods. "Do you have any last name?" Negative. Shaxx sighs again. "Why did you start hitting that boy?" Ivan looks down again. "If you don't tell me, I won't be able to help you." Silence, then a small, raspy voice speaks up. "He called me slum boy." Shaxx folds his hands. "Is that all?" Ivan scowls. "He also said that I had nothing to do here at the Tower." "So you chose to beat him up?" Ivan looks up to Shaxx, mouth set in a thin line. "That's all I know. That's how it was always done: someone insults you, you take action." Shaxx sighs again and rests back into his chair. "You do realise you almost killed him?" Something lights in Ivan's eyes. "So what?" Shaxx gulps as he feels something coming from the boy in front of him. An aura of pure, cold blooded brutality. "Let's make a deal alright? From now on, I'll be the one training you, personally. In exchange, you will take anger management sessions and learn to control yourself, okay?" Ivan doesn't respond. He is still looking at his feet. "Okay. But if anybody ever says anything about me…" "Don't worry, I'll make sure nobody does. So, do we have a deal?" Shaxx holds out his hand, after a few moments, Ivan takes it and gives as firm a shake as he can.

Years later

The first thing you feel is the cold, then slowly, each one of your limbs wakes up and along with it excruciating pain. You try to cry out but the only sound that comes out is a gurgle. "Guardian? Eyes up guardian." A female voice. You hear it just in front of you. You try to open your eyes. Bad idea. The light blinds you. "Take it easy Guardian, you've been asleep for a long time". " _A long time, what does she means?"_ You blink a few times and start to see your surroundings more clearly. Rusted forms as far as you can see, a giant wall in the distance and… what's that thing in front of you? The pain is still here but not as bad as earlier. You try to speak again. "Wh- Whe- Where am I?" The, robot? in front of you twirls. "The Cosmodrome in Old Russia." You hear cries in the distance. The robot turns towards the source of the cry and back to you. "Better not stay here, Fallen activity has dropped in the last few months but they're still there and they don't sound too happy. Can you move?" Slowly, you try to get up, immediately the world starts to spin and you have to hold onto a car to stay upright. You try to breathe as deeply as you can and slowly, your vision stops swimming and you nod to the little robot. "Good. Let's move." It starts to float towards the wall and you try to follow her. You walk in silence for some time before you try to speak again. "Wha- What are you?" The robot turns to you. "I'm a GhostGhost. In fact, I am YOUR Ghost." "What's your-" You gulp. "Your name?" The automaton twirls again. "I don't actually have a name. Until we find a Guardian, we're just called Ghosts."Silence comes again for a moment till they both pass a door, ripped off from its hinges. "But didn't you ever want to have one? A name, I mean." "It's not as simple as that, until we find and are linked to a Guardian -others like you- we are simply robots. You are supposed to name me." Right before answering, a flash goes through his mind. A sigil, painted in black along with a word ringing inside his head, ominous and somber: " **You-are-death!** "

The newly-born Guardian stumbled as the memory flashed through his mind. The floating drone quickly moved to support him. "Are you all right?!" He shakes his head. "Yeah, I just- I think I just remembered something." "What is it?" "My name… it's…" the Guardian thinks about it for a bit. "Shin." He lets the name roll off his tongue, it's got a nice ring to it, but the memory still burns bright in his head. " _Shin-Death. What does it mean? Where did it come from…? Nah, I'll see about this later, right now, better try to get out of here._ " More growls are heard, they're closer now. "We have to hurry, the House of Devils still have a strong enclave in the Cosmodrome." Shin breaks into a jog, entering the depths of the Wall. While he runs, he still wonders, " _What the heck is happening to me?_ "

 **So yep, I'm not dead, just... work i suppose? Anyway, Vigilante is on a hiatus until I can find a way to finish the * #$ chapter on which I've been working on for the last three months...**

 **Anyway, Destiny! I freaking loved that game and I am actually sad that it's considered to be clinically dead -not to the point of crying of course, *quietly gets into a corner and cries* but that's not the point. Since the beginning, I've been fascinated by Destiny's lore and the potential in it, (actually, a lot of my knowledge about it comes from the very wise and ohmygodhisvoice! MynameisByf in front of whom we all kneel for he is the lore master... nah jk :P. I do like him though) and thus began this idea.**

 **This will be D2 centric and D1 history will be seen mainly through flashbacks and while it will follow the Red Campaign or at least the beginning of it, I'm going to re-write a lot of it, to see what would have happened if the conflict lasted longer and had more battles in it -God I love the idea of just hundreds of Guardians banding together and marching into battle!-**

 **There WILL be a shit-ton of OCs, but the story will focus on just two of them, Shin, who is the one up here, and another whom we will see later on hehehe...**

 **Anyways, that's all for today,**

 **See y'all later my lovelies!**

 **-Dragon**


	2. Chapter 2

Breathing heavily, a cloaked figure runs through the barren landscape of Old Russia. Not slowing down, the menacing clicks and growls sounding behind him instead force him to push harder. "Ice! Is the sparrow ready yet?!" A voice sounds inside his helmet, his Ghost, safe from the shots flying around. "If you wanted to have it right now, you should have listened to me!" In a mocking imitation of the Hunter's voice: 'Listen to me Mark, it's not a good idea to try and ram your sole medium of travel in a Captain, he's not gonna die from it! And what do you do?' Feeling a stitch building up in his side, Mark-4, the Guardian currently running for his life, gasped out: "Less sarcasm and more repairing Ice, I don't know if I can carry on much longer." "Okay, okay, just give me a few more seconds… done!" As Ice spoke these words, the familiar form of a sparrow appeared, powered up, next to Mark who gladly jumped on it and pushed the throttle at full power.

Feeling cocky, he lifted his arm to give the Eliksni pursuing him a few gestures and words of choice. However, the retort died on his lips as the familiar form of an arc blade flew and planted itself firmly in the offending arm. Letting out a curse, Mark cradled his injured arm and opted for simply getting the heck out of here. The engine zoomed off in the distance, leaving the group of Fallen frustrated at having let their prey go.

A few kilometres away, another Guardian was currently running for his life. This time however, there was no playful banter, just desperation. Shin, the newborn, still had trouble running and thus stumbled on every nook and cranny of the hard earth. His Ghost was frantically sending away signals for help to anyone who would listen, unable to fight off the four-armed creatures he heard circling them. Then, as in a dream, the familiar zoom of a sparrow made itself heard. The little automaton shifted its parts in the hopes of seeing if he had dreamt or if someone was indeed coming to their rescue. It saw the blessed engine come towards them before making… a sharp left and… leaving? Unable to speak or move out of shock, the Ghost simply watched the engine speed off into the distance before asking itself: " _is this it?"_

On said engine, we find a familiar Hunter trying to keep control of his sparrow while arguing with his ghost. "Ice, I swear to you I saw something back there!" "Yeah, something! A bunch of Fallen and may I remind you that you still have an arc blade stuck in your forearm?" "I know but…." Keeping silent for a bit, Mark wordlessly manoeuvred the sparrow to go back on their tracks. "Mark! What are you…?" "Just a minute Ice, we'll go back, take a look and if there's nothing, we'll leave, okay?" "Fine…" the Ghost mumbled.

A few seconds later, they were back on said site and of course, there was more than simply Fallen here. Settling in the cover of a downed aircraft, Mark looked down the sights of his sniper rifle and saw a fellow Guardian, the robes on his back indicating his status as a Warlock. However, its shortness and the apparent difficulty the latter seemed to have walking marked him undoubtedly as a newborn. A very circled-by-angry-Fallen newborn. Sighing, Mike aimed, blocked his breathing, and took a shot.

Shin was scared. He'd been alive for less than a day and already, the House of Devils, as his Ghost had called them, were on his tracks and apparently keen on killing him. He tried to carry on running but the pain in his abdomen distracted him and he ended up face down on the earth after having fallen again. This time however, Shin was simply too tired to get back up. He felt his Ghost hovering near his face and finally settling close to him. Shin held up his hand and let it fly over to it, then curled up and waited. The first thing that he saw was the shadow of a four-armed being, hand raised with what looked like a blade. Then, he saw it go rigid and fall, a enormous bang following instantly.

Forcing himself to look up, he saw a cloaked figure, wrapped in what seemed to be lightning, descending from the sky and engaging the Devils. His movements were fluid and each strike meant certain death for the Fallen attacking him. Finally, the last one fell to the ground. Shin tried to look up but the landscape was swimming and dark spots appeared at the edge of his vision. "Who're… you?" He managed to slur. "Don't worry kid" a cocky voice answered, "you're alright now. Everything's gonna…" The voice faded away as Shin slowly slipped into unconsciousness, feeling, for the first time in his short life, safe and sound.

The first sound that greeted Shin when he started to wake up was the low hum of an engine. He slowly blinked and tried to get on his elbows but a sudden bout of dizziness prevented him from any movement. The form of his ghost materialised in front of him and sagged in apparent relief. "Thank the Traveler you're okay, I've been monitoring your vitals since we got in the air but there was no sign you'd wake up anytime soon…" "You've got yourself a worrier, kid." The voice that just spoke up had some kind of metallic, or robotic tone to it. Shin finally succeeded on sitting up and looked to where the voice came. The sight that greeted the newborn had him do a double take.

The being in front of him was clothed in a light armour, coloured in mixes of white and brown. The hood of the white cloak it wore was down and allowed Shin to get a better look at its face. It was made from white and blue plates and accentuated by white glowing eyes, deeply set within the eye sockets. The look was completed by a black "-4" painted on the left side of its face. "What- who are you?" The being let out a quick laugh. "You hear that Ice? He must be older than we thought." Shaking its head, the robot (?) walked up to him and offered his hand to shake. When Shin hesitantly took it, he spoke up again. "My name's Mark-4, or Mark for short. I'm an exo and a Hunter of the Last City. From the look of you, I'd say you're a Warlock, and a newborn at that."

Shin frowned. " _Warlock? Newborn? What does he mean? Where are we going?_ Where are you taking me?" Mark smiled and motioned for Shin to look through the observation bay. "To the last safe place on Earth, the Last City." As the Exo said this, he motioned to the ship's observation bay and Shin got up to shuffle towards it. He frowned when all he could see was an ocean of clouds and was about to make his puzzlement known to Mark when he saw it. Just like a theatre curtain, the clouds parted, revealing a gigantic sphere hovering over a wall-surrounded city. "Is that-?" The exo smiled. "It is, the Traveler and the Last Safe City on Earth. Your home now."

Shin gulped as he saw the ship get closer to a tower on the edge of the circular wall. He didn't remember much -barely his own name- and he knew even less about what was about to happen when they landed. But they'd be alright, him and Ghost.

Somehow, he felt as if things would finally go their way.

 **Soooooo... I'm back...?**

 **Once again, I'm so sorry for this update being so late, but I have been working non-stop over the last two weeks because I have been INVITED FOR AN INTERVIEW AT CAMBRIDGE !**

 **I've been busting my ass since september to try and get a good enough file and results for them to consider me, and now that they have, I have to at least look smart for a single afternoon, which demands a lot of work.**

 **I have been gettimg back into Destiny lately though, and my mind has been bursting with ideas on where I want to take this story.**

 **Until next time!**

 **Dragon**


	3. Chapter 3

The Tower was… busy to say the least. Since he'd arrived four days ago, there hadn't been a single moment when Guardians didn't either arrive or leave and he central Plaza was always full of Hunter, Titans, Warlocks and civilians milling about.

Shin sighed and closed his eyes, leaning back against the tree in front of Banshee's shop. He liked the old exo, the latter might have been a bit… unstable at times, but he took his arrival in stride and had offered his help when he'd seen his cruel lack of weapons. The weight of the hand cannon (a Hakke model) at his side was a comforting presence even when he was in the safety of his room. The feeling of absolute helplessness he'd experienced before being saved by Mark was something he wasn't sure he'd ever be able to forget. Zephira had reassured him, telling him that very few Guardians had an "ideal" rebirth and arrived in the city unscathed, mentally and physically.

Just as he was about to fall back asleep, the sound of boots crushing the grass shook him out of his reverie. Shin looked up at the face of his "saviour", a small smile setting in on his features. Mark returned the gesture and held out his hand for the newborn Warlock to take and help him up. When Shin was back up on his own two feet, the existing an arm around his shoulders. "Tell me my dear friend, have you had the time of checking out all the activities that the Tower has to offer?" The human let out a small laugh. "You've taken me everywhere Mark, I'm pretty sure that I know the Tower better than many of the people here now." The exo's white eyes seemed to crinkle -can they even do this?- in amusement as he dragged Shin towards the Vanguard hall. "Aha! But I have yet to show you one of the best things around!"

Shin blinked as his eyes got used to the lack of light inside the hall and he simply let himself be taken towards an -admittedly massive- Titan, clad in white and orange armour. The latter was typing something on a pad and discussing with a Frame, painted the same colours as him. Mark let go of Shin's shoulders -why did he feel so cold all of a sudden?- and jogged to the Titan a greeting on his lips. "Hey! Shaxx! A minute of your precious time please!" The aforementioned turned to the Hunter and held out his pad to the Frame before putting his hands on his hips. "Mark-4! It has been a long time since I've last seen you." Mark smiled sheepishly and put his hands up in defense. "Hey! Don't blame me, Cayde's been keeping me busy all year. It's like he takes out his frustration at being locked in here on us Scouts." A distant "I heard that!" came from the Vanguard hall.

Mark rolled his eyes and and turned back to Shaxx. "Anyway, I'm here because I want to sign someone up for the roster, it's my pal right here." The exo pointed to where Shin was standing, startling the Warlock. "M-me?! But- I-" Shin fell silent when Shaxx slowly walked up to him and gauged him up. The raw power buzzing from the Titan was left the human's hair standing on end while he willed himself not to take a step back. Seemingly satisfied, the Lord of the Crucible nodded and went back to the Frame still holding his pad.

"What is your name youngling?" Again -it seemed to become a habit- Shin slightly jumped up, startled. "M-me sir?" Shaxx let out a small huff of amusement. "Yes, you." "It's, hum it's Shin sir." Just then, Zephira, surely having felt her Guardian's distress, popped out of her space within Shin's armour. "And I'm Zephira, his Ghost." After a moment of hesitation, she added "Sir." Shaxx laughed out loud this time, the deep rumbling sound filling up the hall. "I like them! You've brought me two good recruits Mark, I'll be sure to get them in shape!" The exo smiled and gave the Titan a thumbs up. He turned back to Shin and put his hand on the human Warlock's shoulder. "Ready to get rumbling newbie?" Looking right into Mark's expectant eyes, Shin gulped and offered a small upward quirk of his lips. "You're on! I got this!"

—

He so did not have this.

The match had started ten minutes ago and he hadn't managed to get a single shot in. Well… to be fair he was pretty sure that one of his bullets had grazed that Titan's armour. That was before a stray grenade had reduced his body to ash though… or was it after a Hunter repainted the wall behind him with his brain matter? Anyway, Shin had finally chosen to just hide out and wait for the end of the match to avoid being murdered again.

" _That's it, just gotta hide out. I think I'm pretty safe here_ -he'd chosen the cover of a ruined building- _yeah, just gotta wait and-_ " He barely had the time to hear the telltale whine of a fusion rifle before being reduced to ash (again). A feeling of weightlessness got ahold of him, and soon enough, he was bathed in the light of Zephira's resurrecting beam. "You all right there Shin?" The Warlock didn't answer his Ghost. He locked his jaw and felt his teeth grind together as anger took ahold of him. Couldn't they give him a break? Didn't they understand he'd been reborn not even a week ago? Rage and fear -fear at being so helpless against his fellow Guardians- took hold of his mind and he felt _something_ gather in the pit of his stomach, getting stronger and stronger by the second. An alert from his radar told him that a Guardian from the opposing team was near and when he glimpsed the Hunter who'd spent the entirety of the match going after him, he didn't think.

An instant after, and he was standing next to him. Startled out of his armour, the Hunter fumbled with his sniper rifle (useless at close range) and gave Shin the precious second he needed. Without thinking, acting on an instinct he didn't even know he had, the Void-clad Warlock let out the energy that had been building up inside of him. The Hunter didn't have time to let out a scream before being reduced to nothingness by the blast that hit him. Shin didn't even stop to breathe, to take in _what the hell was happening to him_ before he warped next to another Guardian, and another, and another.

After the last particles of an enemy Warlock finished dissolving in the air, Shin felt all the energy leave him and watched as the violet light disappeared from his hands. Falling on his hands and knees, he gulped air greedily, like he'd just been holding his breath for too much time. Zephira appeared next to him and hovered, concerned, at eye level. "It's okay Shin, breath. Slowly, in… and out." He followed her instructions, and a few moments after, he felt his heartbeat return to a slower rate.

"I think you just manifested your Super." "My what?!" Zephira bobbed up and down. "Your Super. It's kind of like a…" She trailed off, looking for the best explanation. "Well, do you remember when that Titan with the bronze armour surrounded himself in flames and started throwing hammers around?" Shin nodded. "That was a Super. It's a manifestation of a Guardian's Light. There are three… elements? you could say…? Anyway, so each-" Acting out on instinct, Zephira transmatted inside of Shin's Armor just as a rocket missile obliterated the Warlock.

—

Even before opening his eyes, Shin felt the pain radiating from every part of his body. Blearily, he tried to open his eyes, only to see that he wasn't lying on the rocky terrain of the arena where he'd been fighting, but on the smooth metal floor of a dimly-lit room, illuminated by screens covering one of the walls. Slowly sitting up, the Warlock registered that they were two- three? people arguing somewhere next to him.

"Why would you even think about doing something like that?! I was out of my pocket! Do you know what would have happened if I hadn't kept my radar up? You'd be-" Zephira trailed off when she saw her Guardian sitting up and looking around in confusion. "Hey, you okay there?" She said softly. "Yeah… I think. What happened?" Scrunching up her plates in anger, Zephira answered him. "Well, you had just manifested your Super and eliminated half the opposing team. When you got through what energy you had in store, the idiotic brawn-for-brains here thought it would be a good idea to fire a rocket launcher at you when I was out of your armour."

Shin's eyes popped open at the implication of what Zephira had just told him. "Do you mean that…?" "Yes. But don't worry, Shaxx is dealing with it." Speaking of the devil, the white-and-orange clad Titan pointed the christened 'brawn-for-brains' towards the door and tapped a line of code on a terminal. This done, he walked to where Shin was still sitting down and offered him his hand. The Warlock took it and got up before reaching underneath his jaw for the release latch of his helmet. When he felt the piece of gear slide off his head, Shin took a deep breath.

Sighing, he turned back to Shaxx. "How did the match end?" The Titan huffed a small laugh. "Oh, it is not over yet, youngling. I fear your team is faring no better than before I had to pull you out. But there is still time to go before-" An Awoken, clad in red civilian robes banged open the doors and made a beeline for the Lord of the Crucible. "Lord Shaxx! There's something you've got to see!" She waved a pad in front of the aforementioned's face. "There's two Guardian trying to force their way into the match!" Shaxx shook his head and let out a deep sigh. "This is not the first time it's happened and certainly not the last. Why would you consider it so important as barge in here without any sense of decorum?" The aide gulped, panic clear on her face. "It's not what they're doing sir, it's who is trying to get into the match."

Shin had observed the exchanges with a deepening feeling of perplexity. Seemingly curious, Shaxx uncrossed his arms and beckoned for the aide to hand him the pad. "What do you mean it's who-" The Titan fell silent for a time, reading the information in front of him. Then, he began to laugh, loudly and clearly. The aide -who looked about two seconds away from collapsing in panic- tried to interrupt Shaxx. "Why would you laugh sir?! It's gonna end in disaster!"

Shaxx, ignoring her, walked to a console next to him and pushed a button. "To all Guardians currently fighting on the Twilight Gap map, an imperative has come up. The match is interrupted and you will all be transmatted back to your ships." Just as he let go of the button, a chorus of disappointed voices rang from all the separate radio channels. A familiar voice in particular made its discontent particularly well-known. "With all due respect Lord Shaxx, what in the Traveler is going through your mind?" "Trust me young Mark, you will be happy to be as far away from there as possible soon enough…" "Why?!" Said the exasperated voice of the exo. You couldn't see Shaxx's features underneath his helmet, but his tone suggested that he had a gleeful smile on his face.

"Because, Young Mark, the ones who have requisitioned the arena are the Phoenix and the Mad Dragon." All the protesting shut down immediately, and Mark softly translated what every Guardian -except for Shin- was thinking. "Holy shit."

Shaxx's laugh boomed again as two Guardians transmatted at opposite sides of the arena.

"Holy shit indeed, youngling. Get ready for the fight of a century."

 **Hello again!**

 **Now would you look at that! A story updated not a century after its last chapter! Miracle!**

 **In all seriousness though, I'm really getting back into Destiny and had a sudden burst of inspiration for this story, so I'll try to hold onto it as long as I can :P**

 **Next chapter, we will discover who are the Phoenix and the Mad Dragon!**

 **ps: I'll put the description of each character's armor and weapons in the next chapter.**

 **Until next time!**

 **Dragon**


End file.
